Just three years after "The Breakfast Club", this film reunites Michael Anthony Hall and Paul Gleason. It aims to achieve the irreverent humor of a film like "Stripes" combined with the titillation of "Porky's". Almost every character in this film is a caricature. You can tell a lot of people put a lot of work into this film, so where does it go wrong?First, the film's primary story--about a football phenom who is unscrupulously recruited by every powerhouse program in the country--is a serious drag on the humor. There is nothing funny about the sacrifice of educational values to the football money machine.Secondly, the film tries to include every standard feature of every youth comedy film--the clueless adults, the topless scenes, the humor centering on sex and alcohol--and in so doing, becomes a parody of itself.I am deducting one point just for the colossal waste of talent.Robert Downey Jr. is wasted here, playing the wacky sidekick. Uma Thurman's performance as the hometown girlfriend is lost in the silliness. The entire film is predictable, sometimes cringe-worthy, and boring.In a scene near the end of the film Hall, Downey and Thurman drive off in a convertible to begin their post-high school lives and there is a sense of what this film could have been: an interesting exploration of the lives of three kids who have issues to face and things to learn. It might even have been funny, too.

This film is about various colleges doing unscrupulous acts in order to attract a talented American football player to study in their college."Johnny Be Good" has a bad plot and has poor acting. I normally like Uma Thurman, but her role in this is small and dispensable. There are so many implausible scenes which are so bad that they become funny. It is so bad that it becomes entertaining. For example, where did the well dressed cheerleaders come from in the spontaneous game in front of Georgia's house? And that flamboyant outfit Johnny goes home with is ridiculously bad. Leo Wiggins, played by Robert Downey Jr., has very little screen time, but he is memorable role in a bad way. He is so crazy that he is painful to look at.Maybe it was a good film by 80's standards, but watching it 20 years down the line, it has become an embarrassing joke.

This was surprisingly rather decent actually, as it managed to amuse me throughout, with a watchable story, and solid performances in my opinion!. Yes it's your typical 80's cheese with all the clichés, but it's fun cheese, and Anthony Michael Hall performed very well actually as Johnnie Walker, plus It's got your typical awesome 80's music as well!. I actually had never heard of this film, until I came across it in the rental section, so I decided to rent it, it wasn't bad at all, and This was Uma's 1st major role, and she did alright, and was great eye candy, plus while the ending cheesy as hell, it put a smile on my face. OK so it has a mediocre script, so what it was still fairly enjoyable to watch, and Paul Gleason plays a great asshole as always, plus I don't have a foot fetish or anything but Uma's feet are gorgeous!. Put your brain at the door and you probably will get some amusement out of it, though it is predictable, and I thought all the characters were quite likable for the most part ,plus It's rather well made too for the most part. This is surprisingly rather decent actually, as it managed to amuse me throughout, with a watchable story, and solid performances in my opinion,worth the watch. The Direction is decent. Bud S. Smith does a decent job here with good camera work, and just keeping the film amusing throughout. The acting is surprisingly fun. Anthony Michael Hall is actually really good as Johnnie Walker and was the main reason I was able to enjoy this film,he was cocky, but charismatic and funny just the same, he also had good chemistry with Thurman and Downey.Jr, and was just very entertaining to watch, it's sad this guy's career never really took off because he's awesome!. Robert Downey Jr. is pretty funny here as the best friend, he shared good chemistry with hall, and seemed to be having fun his role, I liked him lots. Paul Gleason as always plays a great asshole, and here is no different. Uma Thurman is incredibly gorgeous and does just fine in her 1st major role, she was likable and had good chemistry with Hall!., just wish they gave her more screen time. Steve James is rather wasted here but was cool as always when on screen. Marshall Bell is amusing as the chief father. Jennifer Tilly is amusing in her role as Gleason's wife. Rest of the cast are OK. Overall worth the watch. **1/2 out of 5(almost ***)

There is so much wrong with Johnny Be Good, I can't believe there was one viewer that actually had something good to say about it. And I'm an idiot for having bought this garbage. In short, the story goes like this. Senior football player is the highlight of recruiters all over, and they all want Johnny to play for their school. He spends time, though, going to two schools who promise the most crap--money, girls, beer, whatever he wants. His coach, on the other hand, is going to blackball him if Johnny doesn't go to the school that his coach tells him because he's expecting a coaching job out of it. Meanwhile, there's an NCAA investigation going on into recruitment procedures. Blah...blah...blah...Johnny realizes what a jerk he's been (in reality, I don't think a guy like that would ever say no to incredulous amounts of material pampering) and says no way. Then, he gets some sense. The end. First of all, we have the lame story of some stud high school football player enjoying the cut throat recruitment of some hot shot colleges who promises every kind of material incentive to get him to go to school. Perhaps the film is making a valid point about the disgusting lengths colleges go to to get players on their team (a cost allocated to the rest of the students, no less). However, the movie, which plays out like a baffling unrealistic boyish fantasy of wild romps and beer busts, absorbs any sort of validity the story might have.And my copy of the video is sure to notify viewers that more sexually suggestive footage had been added than was in the original release, like any of it is worth watching anyways. Not only is the story boring watching Johnny Walker go from school to school to be pampered, but the "hero" of the story is unbearably obnoxious. It figures. Somewhere after his great performances in John Hughes's movies, Anthony Michael Hall seemed to turn into an unlikeable teenager, and one that never really looked like he enjoyed acting in any of the movies he was in (see Out of Bounds). Johnny Walker is some jerk kid who expects everyone to just fall in love with him. One of those characters where, no matter what he does, everything will work out his way. (Just look at the sequence where he takes revenge on his coach--what the hell are we supposed to make of that? Especially when everyone's attitude is so apathetic). Robert Downey, Jr. is an even bigger waste, and also a confusion, babbling the most idiotic lines throughout the movie. He's hardly interesting, much less funny. And, Uma Thurman, who plays Johnny's girlfriend, Georgia, doesn't seem to get anything but crap from her boyfriend.Johnny Walker epitomizes the kind of kids I hated in high school. Jocks who always got a free ride, and walked around with a holier than thou attitude like the rest of the world should kiss their feet because they knew how to toss around a football. And he's supposed to be our hero? I can learn to like 80s teen trash, but this movie is just god awful.